2022-1102

• [2211.00182] Quantum cosmological gravitational waves?
Abstract: General relativity and its cosmological solution predicts the existence of tensor modes of perturbations evolving on top of our Friedman-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker expanding Universe. Being gauge invariant and not necessarily coupled to other quantum sources, they can be seen as representing pure gravity. Unambiguously showing they are indeed to be quantised would thus provide an unquestionable proof of the quantum nature of gravitation. This review will present a summary of the various theoretical issues that could lead to this conclusion.

• [2211.00436] Black holes and solution generating techniques
Abstract: Multi-black hole solutions play a relevant role both from the theoretical and the phenomenological point of view. In this Thesis, we construct some regular multi-black hole spacetimes in pure Einstein's General Relativity with the aid of solution generating techniques. We begin with a perspective on the history of solution generating techniques, and then we explain in detail the Ernst formalism and the inverse scattering method. These are the techniques that are applied in the rest of the Thesis. Subsequently, we construct multi-black hole solutions embedded in an external gravitational field: it is possible to obtain an equilibrium configuration in many interesting cases, like a collection of collinear static black holes or a chain of accelerating black holes, by choosing appropriately the multipole parameters of the field. Then, we consider the expanding bubbles of nothing as a background for multi-black hole and black ring solutions. The expanding behaviour of the bubbles provides the force necessary to balance the gravitational attraction among the black holes, and hence to reach the equilibrium. Finally, we construct a solution that represents a black hole embedded in a "swirling" universe, which describes a spacetime whirlpool. Moreover, we discuss the possibility of implementing the swirling background in order to enforce the spin-spin configuration, and reach an equilibrium configuration in a double-Kerr spacetime.

• [2211.00602] A new gauge for gravitational perturbations of Kerr spacetimes I: The linearised theory
Abstract: We propose a new geometric framework to address the stability of the Kerr solution to gravitational perturbations in the full sub-extremal range . Central to our framework is a new formulation of nonlinear gravitational perturbations of Kerr, whose two novel ingredients are the choice of a geometric gauge and non-integrable null frames both tailored to the outgoing principal null geodesics of Kerr. The vacuum Einstein equations for the perturbations are formulated in our gauge as a system of equations for the connection coefficients and curvature components relative to the chosen frames. When renormalised with respect to Kerr, the null structure equations with the form of outgoing transport equations do not possess any derivatives of renormalised connection coefficients on the right hand side. In this work, we derive the linearised vacuum Einstein equations around Kerr in the new framework. Our new framework is designed to effectively capture the stabilising properties of the red-shifted transport equations, thereby isolating one of the crucial structures of the problem. Such a feature is suggestive of future simplifications in the analysis. As an illustration, our companion work \cite{benomio_schwarzschild} employs the system of linearised gravity and its enhanced red-shifted transport equations, specialised to the case, to produce a new simplified proof of linear stability of the Schwarzschild solution. The full linear stability analysis in the full sub-extremal range is deferred to future work. As already apparent from \cite{benomio_schwarzschild}, our framework will allow to combine the new structure in the transport equations with the elliptic part of the system to establish a linear orbital stability result without loss of derivatives, indicating that the framework may be well suited to address nonlinear stability in the full sub-extremal range .

• [2211.00616] A new gauge for gravitational perturbations of Kerr spacetimes II: The linear stability of Schwarzschild revisited
Abstract: We present a new proof of linear stability of the Schwarzschild solution to gravitational perturbations. Our approach employs the system of linearised gravity in the new geometric gauge of \cite{benomio_kerr}, specialised to the case. The proof fundamentally relies on the novel structure of the transport equations in the system. Indeed, while exploiting the well-known decoupling of two gauge invariant linearised quantities into spin Teukolsky equations, we make enhanced use of the red-shifted transport equations and their stabilising properties to control the gauge dependent part of the system. As a result, an initial-data gauge normalisation suffices to establish both orbital and asymptotic stability for all the linearised quantities in the system. The absence of future gauge normalisations is a novel element in the linear stability analysis of black hole spacetimes in geometric gauges governed by transport equations. In particular, our approach simplifies the proof of \cite{DHR}, which requires a future normalised (double-null) gauge to establish asymptotic stability for the full system.

2022-1108

• [2211.03497] Black holes in non-local gravity
Abstract: In this chapter we present a status report of black hole-like solutions in non-local theories of gravity in which the Lagrangians are at least quadratic in curvature and contain specific non-polynomial (i.e., non-local) operators. In the absence of exact black hole solutions valid in the whole spacetime, most of the literature on this topic focus on approximate and simplified equations of motion, which could provide insights on the full non-linear solutions. Therefore, the largest part of this chapter is devoted to the linear approximation. We present results on stationary metric solutions (including both static and rotating cases) and dynamical spacetimes describing the formation of non-rotating mini black holes by the collapse of null shells. Non-local effects can regularize the curvature singularities in both scenarios and, in the dynamical case, there exists a mass gap below which the formation of an apparent horizon can be avoided. In the final part we discuss interesting attempts towards finding non-linear black hole solutions in non-local gravity. Throughout this chapter, instead of focusing on a particular non-local model, we present results valid for large classes of theories (to a feasible extent). This more general approach allows the comparison of similarities and differences of the various types of non-local gravity models.
 

2022-1109

• [2211.04143] Circular orbits and polarized images of charged particles orbiting Kerr black hole with a weak magnetic field
Abstract: In this work, we study circular motions of charged particles and their polarized images around the Kerr black hole immersed in a weak magnetic field. We pay special attention to the case that both the magnetic field and the charge-to-mass ratio are not big, thus the effective potential along the radial motion reduce to a cubic form approximately so that we can express the radius of the innermost stable circular orbit analytically in terms of the energy and angular momentum of charged particles. Moreover, we computed the polarized synchrotron radiations of these particles and obtained the polarized images semi-analytically for various spins, observational angles and prograde and retrograde orbits. In particular, We find that these parameters have significant impacts on the polarization rotation and the magnitude of the polarization flux.

• [2211.04106] On Phase Transitions near Black Holes
Abstract: It has been shown that temperatures near the horizon of rotating black holes can be about the phase transition temperature in the Standard Model with the Higgs boson. The distance from the horizon and gravitational and electromagnetic radiation emitted in collisions between particles have been numerically estimated.

• [2211.03794] Photon Ring Astrometry for Superradiant Clouds
Abstract: Gravitational atoms produced from the superradiant extraction of rotational energy of spinning black holes can reach energy densities significantly higher than that of dark matter, turning black holes into powerful potential detectors for ultralight bosons. These structures are formed by coherently oscillating bosons, which induce oscillating metric perturbations, deflecting photon geodesics passing through their interior. The deviation of nearby geodesics can be further amplified near critical bound photon orbits. We discuss the prospect of detecting this deflection using photon ring autocorrelations with the Event Horizon Telescope and its next generation upgrade, which can probe a large unexplored region of the cloud mass parameter space when compared with previous constraints.
 

2022-1115

• [2211.07528] Eccentricity or spin precession? Distinguishing subdominant effects in gravitational-wave data
Abstract: Eccentricity and spin precession are key observables in gravitational-wave astronomy, encoding precious information about the astrophysical formation of compact binaries together with fine details of the relativistic two-body problem. However, the two effects can mimic each other in the emitted signals, raising issues around their distinguishability. Since inferring the existence of both eccentricity and spin precession simultaneously is -- at present -- not possible, current state-of-the-art analyses assume that either one of the effects may be present in the data. In such a setup, what are the conditions required for a confident identification of either effect? We present simulated parameter inference studies in realistic LIGO/Virgo noise, studying events consistent with either spin precessing or eccentric binary black hole coalescences and recovering under the assumption that either of the two effects may be at play. We quantify how the distinguishability of eccentricity and spin precession increases with the number of visible orbital cycles, confirming that the signal must be sufficiently long for the two effects to be separable. The threshold depends on the injected source, with inclination, eccentricity, and effective spin playing crucial roles. In particular, for injections similar to GW190521, we find that it is impossible to confidently distinguish eccentricity from spin precession.
 

2022-1116

• [2211.08061] Axially symmetric rotating black hole with regular horizons
Abstract: We consider the metric of an axially symmetric rotating black hole. We do not specify the concrete form of a metric and rely on its behavior near the horizon only. Typically, it is characterized (in the coordinates that generalize the Boyer-Lindquist ones) by two integers p and q that enter asymptotic expansions of the time and radial metric coefficients in the main approximation. For given p, q, we find a general form for which the metric is regular, and how the expansions of the metric coefficients look like. We compare two types of requirement: (i) boundedness of curvature invariants, (ii) boundedness of separate components of the curvature tensor in a free falling frame. Analysis is done for nonextremal, extremal and ultraextremal horizons separately.
 

2022-1117

• [2211.08489] Black holes and nilmanifolds: quasinormal modes as the fingerprints of extra dimensions?
Abstract: We investigate whether quasinormal modes (QNMs) can be used in the search for signatures of extra dimensions. To address a gap in the Beyond Standard Model (BSM) literature, we focus here on higher dimensions characterised by negative Ricci curvature. As a first step, we consider a product space comprised of a four-dimensional Schwarzschild black hole space-time and a three-dimensional nilmanifold (twisted torus); we model the black hole perturbations as a scalar test field. We find that the extra-dimensional geometry can be stylised in the QNM effective potential as a squared mass-like term. We then compute the corresponding QNM spectrum using three different numerical methods, and determine constraints on this possible extra-dimensional observable from gravitational-wave considerations.

Keywords: code; QNM; extra dimension;

• [2211.08793] Non-thermal acceleration radiation of atoms near a black hole in presence of dark energy
Abstract: We investigate how dark energy affects atom-field interaction. To this end, we consider acceleration radiation of a freely falling atom close to a Schwarzschild black hole (BH) in presence of dark energy characterized by a positive cosmological constant Λ. Assuming a Boulware vacuum for a scalar (spin−0) field and using a basic quantum optics approach, we numerically achieve excitation probabilities for the atom to detect a photon as it falls towards the BH horizon. It turns out that the nature of the emitted radiation deeply drives its origin from the magnitude of Λ. In particular, radiation emission is enhanced due to dilation of the BH horizon by dark energy. Also, we report an oscillatory non-thermal spectrum in presence of Λ, and these oscillations, in a varying degree, also depend on BH mass and atomic excitation frequency. We conjecture that such a hoedown may be a natural consequence of a constrained motion due to the bifurcate Killing horizon of the given spacetime. The situation is akin to Parikh-Wilzcek tunneling approach to Hawking radiation where the presence of extra contributions to the Boltzmann factor deforms the thermality of flux. It apparently hints at field satisfying a modified energy-momentum dispersion relation within classical regime of general relativity arising as an effective low energy consequence of an underlying quantum gravity theory. Our findings may signal new ways of conceiving the subtleties surrounding the physics of dark energy.

Keywords: laser; excitation; GW; dark energy;EMRI;

• [2211.08912] Synchrotron emitting Komissarov torus with magnetic polarization around Kerr black holes
Abstract: Magnetic fields in black hole accretion disks are associated with processes of mass accretion and energy amplification. The contribution of the magnetic field due to the magnetic polarization of the material induces effects on the physical properties of the medium that have repercussions on the radiation coming from the accretion disks. Hence, from observations, it could be possible to infer the "fingerprint" left by the magnetic polarization of the material and establish the properties of the spacetime itself. As the first step in this purpose, we use numerical simulations to systematically analyze the possible observable effects produced by the magnetic properties of an accretion disk around a Kerr black hole. We found that under the synchrotron radiation power-law model the effects of the magnetic polarization are negligible when the plasma is gas pressure-dominated. Nevertheless, as beta-plasma decreases, the emission becomes more intense for magnetic pressure-dominated disks. In particular, we found that paramagnetic disks emit the highest intensity value independent of the beta-plasma parameter in this regime. By contrast, the emitted flux decreases with the increase of beta-plasma due to the dependence of the magnetic field on the emission and absorption coefficients. Moreover, the disk morphology changes with the magnetic susceptibility: paramagnetic disks are more compact than diamagnetic ones. This fact leads to diamagnetic disks emitting a greater flux because each photon has a more optical path to travel inside the disk.

Keywords: EMRI; accretion disk;

 

2022-1117

• [2211.13736] Black hole information recovery from gravitational waves
Abstract: We study the classical and quantum black hole information in gravitational waves from a black hole's history. We review the necessary concepts regarding quantum information in many-body systems to motivate information retrieval and content in gravitational waves. We then show the first step in an optimal information retrieval strategy is to search for information in gravitational waves, compared to searching for correlations in Hawking radiation. We argue a large portion of the information of the initial collapsing state may be in the gravitational waves. Using the Zerilli equation for particles falling radially into Schwarzschild black holes, we then describe a method to retrieve full classical information about infalling sources, including masses, infall times and angles.

Keywords: GW;